Chapter 91: The Young Master's Fame Spreads (Part 1)

  The person outside the door kept knocking non-stop, while Shen Baiying inside could only smile bitterly. The noise he made had already reached the ears of the person outside, and at this point, trying to hide would be useless. Helpless, he bent down to pick up the candle holder and put it on the table, secretly thinking about how to respond.

  As she put down the candle holder, her fingers swept across the table and suddenly touched something. Feeling it vaguely, it seemed to be a thin piece of paper, like an envelope. Shen Baiying's heart moved, thinking: Just now in the outer room, there was nothing on the table except for the candle holder and flint, why did someone leave a letter in the inner room? If that person had already left here, they wouldn't have left anything behind, unless...

  He hastily took the letter to the window and, with the faint sunlight that came in, saw a line of scribbled ink on the envelope. On closer inspection, it was indeed "Shen Xiaoyou personally opened" five small words.

  Shen Xiaoyou... who else could it be! Shen Bailian took a light breath, feeling utterly unbelievable. She had come to find this master without prior notice, and the master had left for some time, but this letter was clearly written for her, as if the master had known long ago that she would find this place and had specially written a letter for her to read in the future.

  The superior man's actions are indeed profound and unfathomable. Shen Bailian sighed as he reached out to open the envelope, but just then, the person outside the door could no longer contain himself, and the knocking grew louder, with repeated urgent cries of: "Old sir, hurry up and open the door! Otherwise, Qingming will have to force his way in!" His tone had already become somewhat anxious.

  This man is so urgent, I don't know what important knowledge he wants to tell their young master. Shen Bailian's eyebrows furrowed, and she couldn't help but put aside the letter, stuffing it into her pocket, and rushed forward to open the door.

  Outside the door was a long street paved with bluestone slabs, and on both sides of the street were many shops and stalls. People and horses came and went, bustling about, calling out to sell their wares and haggling over prices, the sounds rising and falling in a constant din that never ceased. It turned out that the old man's wooden hut was cleverly situated, with one side facing a narrow alley lined with pine trees, while the other side was close to the market town. This truly embodied the ancient saying "the greatest hiding place is in the city", and of course, this was also thanks to the magical powers of the immortal's arts, something that ordinary people could not accomplish.

  When she withdrew her gaze, Shen Bailian finally turned to look at the person standing on the steps. The young man was dressed in a green robe, dressed as a book boy, with a large lacquered wooden food box in his hand. His appearance was quite elegant and refined, but his bright eyes were full of surprise, staring blankly at Shen Bailian's face, apparently seeing that the person who came out of the door was not an old man, but a young stranger, which was very unexpected.

  "Who are you?" The book boy stared at him for a long time before he remembered to ask.

  Shen Bailian just smiled faintly and didn't respond.

  Actually, he was also at a loss for how to answer. But the book boy saw his calm and collected expression, so he took him as an important person and didn't dare be rude. After carefully sizing him up several times, he suddenly had an idea and smiled: "Ah, I know! This young master is so handsome and extraordinary, it must be that you are the old man's son or nephew, come to visit him, right?"

  Shen Bailian was taken aback, and with a noncommittal smile, she glanced at him. The book boy then took it upon himself to be clever, smiling and saying: "The young master of the old gentleman's family is naturally also a great talent with great knowledge, our young master likes to make friends with such people, why don't we go to the mansion together and sit for a while?" As he spoke, he continued to flatter Shen Bailian, no doubt with the intention of winning over the old gentleman's "nephew" as another advocate.

  Shen Bailian slightly raised an eyebrow before speaking: "There is no one else in the house except for me."

  "What?" Shu Tong was taken aback, looking at him with a mixture of doubt and suspicion. He couldn't help but stretch his head to peek inside the house, seeing that it was indeed dark and quiet inside. His face gradually showed a look of difficulty, muttering, "The old master really isn't here... this is troublesome."

  Shen Bailian saw the changing expressions on his face, and his eyes were filled with anxiety. He also had a hint of doubt in his heart, thinking to himself: If he came to seek guidance, it wouldn't be necessary to find someone at all costs. This Shu Tong was so anxious, probably not here to invite someone to come and teach him knowledge, but rather there must be something important he wanted to ask about.

  He was guessing, when he suddenly saw the book boy bite his teeth, seemingly making up his mind, and abruptly looked at himself, saying straightforwardly: "This young master, since the old master is not here, then it's only good to ask you to go with Qingming to see Young Master at the mansion!"

  "Me?" Shen Bailian was startled and hastily shook her head, declining, "I don't have any knowledge that I can impart to your young master."

  That young bookkeeper also shook his head and said, "It's not about learning... Ah, since you are the old master's nephew, I suppose you must be familiar with the old master's magical powers. I won't hide it from you anymore... Our young master wants to invite the old master to come and divine a hexagram for him! The old master is so formidable, with a profound foundation in his family learning, and you, sir, must also be well-versed in the study of fate. Although we can't invite the old master, if we can invite you, sir, I think our young master's troubles will also be somewhat alleviated."

  It turned out that the master of this book was going to ask someone to divine his fate. Shen Baiyun suddenly realized, and after thinking about it, he felt that this was indeed the truth. That expert was good at divination, and it seemed that in order to taste the delicious food in the young master's mansion, he used divination as an exchange. However, the young master was too greedy, ordinary people could hardly get the expert to divine their fate once, let alone several times. No wonder the expert refused to see him, and perhaps the expert had left Jiangdu just to avoid him.

  He had come all the way to Jiangdu, but the other person had left a step earlier. This young master was indeed not to be underestimated. Shen Bailian thought so in her heart and felt a little displeased with both the book boy and his young master. She said indifferently: "I have another important matter on hand, I'm afraid it's not very convenient."

  That child suddenly became anxious and begged: "Young master, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda. If you follow me to the mansion, I'm afraid we'll save not just one or two lives, but build hundreds of thousands of pagodas. Everyone in our entire household will be grateful for your great kindness, please have mercy!"

  Shen Bailian furrowed her brow and said disapprovingly, "What matter is so important that it involves human life? You're exaggerating too much."

  "That's no exaggeration! Young master, you don't know the whole story - it's also related to the lives of our old master and the future young mistress!"

  Hearing it was a matter of life and death, Shen Bailian couldn't help but feel a few points of curiosity: "What's going on?"

  The young man looked at him and suddenly smiled, "Young master, why don't you get in the carriage with me first? I'll tell you all about it on the way." As he spoke, he turned around and walked towards a horse-drawn carriage parked below the steps, respectfully lifting up the curtain, but the smile on his face seemed to have a hint of "inviting you into a trap".

  When Shen Bailian had no choice but to get on the horse, Shu Tong explained in detail: "Young master, you just asked what was related to the life and death of my old master and young lady. This matter must be started from the strange illness that our old master suffered a year ago. Our Gu's family is also considered a famous door in Jiangdu City, with countless good fields and shops, but a year ago, the old master suddenly fell ill, and the silver in the house was spent like flowing water, buying countless high-quality medicines and inviting many famous doctors, but it was impossible to make the old master's illness slightly better. The young master was originally taking the imperial examination outside, but he hurried back halfway, serving his father with medicine every day, but it didn't work at all. Later, he accidentally met an old man, who calculated a divination for the old master and said that in order to cure the old master's illness, the young master must marry a woman with wood in her fate, as wood is the main element of life. The young master then asked Lin's family for marriage under the guidance of the old man. It was strange to say that after being engaged to Miss Lin, the old master's illness really wasn't so severe, and he didn't become dizzy all day long, which made the lady and the young master overjoyed. The young master even praised the old man as a divine person, knowing that the old man liked good food, so he ordered me to send some delicious dishes every day to thank the old man for saving his father's life."

  Shen Bailian nodded and said, "Isn't this great? Your family's young master has saved Father and also gotten a lovely wife. What more could Mr. Shen ask for?"

  Shu Tong let out a sigh: "If it were just like that, it would be fine, but later on... anyway, since Master's illness has improved, Young Master has put his mind at ease. Also, because our Master had been ill for a long time, many of the family's shops and properties had no one to take care of them, so he went out in place of Master to take care of these matters in the south, and also took the opportunity to travel around and broaden his horizons. When they arrived at a coastal town in the south, it just so happened that they caught up with the Lantern Festival. At that time, I saw Young Master busy checking accounts all day, very tired, so I advised him to go out and take a stroll around the Lantern Festival to clear his mind. Who knew that it was precisely during that Lantern Festival that Young Master met... met a young lady."

  Shen Bailian was taken aback, and suddenly guessed that it must be the young master who had fallen in love at first sight with the girl he met by chance. Indeed, the book boy continued to say: "That girl is extremely beautiful, Lin's daughter is already a famous beauty in Jiangdu City, but she is inferior to her, no wonder the young master fell in love with her at first sight. That night, the street was very lively, and the flower lamp on the girl's hand was intentionally touched by someone and set on fire. She was anxious and angry, throwing the flower lamp on the ground and trampling it again and again, and wanted to reason with that person. However, the person who provoked her had several rascals with him, and when he saw the girl getting angry, he said even more obscene language, thinking that he would tease her because she was beautiful. Our young master had already lost his soul when he first saw the girl, and when he saw someone bullying her, how could he tolerate it? He immediately blocked in front of her, but he was just a weak scholar, although he had the heart to save the beauty, he didn't have good martial arts skills, and instead let those rascals hit him in the face. When the girl saw that the young master was injured for her sake, she suddenly became furious and gently pushed the young master away, and with just three punches and two kicks, she severely taught those people a lesson, leaving the young master and me stunned. Who would have thought that such a delicate beauty would actually possess extraordinary skills?

  "This girl is not a quiet and virtuous lady, I'm sure you young masters will be greatly disappointed?" Shen Bailian asked on purpose, because he knew in his heart that these heroic women who roamed the Jianghu might have excellent martial arts skills and would not be bullied, but in the eyes of ordinary men, they were not candidates for a good wife and mother.

  "You're wrong, young master." Book Boy shook his head. "Although that girl is quite forward, the young master seems to appreciate her even more. Not only did he buy a new lamp and give it to her, but he also accompanied that girl on the street for a long time, until they parted ways when the moon was high in the sky. That girl seemed to have a mind for our young master as well, and asked him where his home was before parting, probably thinking of meeting again in the future. However, since the young master is already engaged, how could he go and meet another girl... So he just brushed it off vaguely and returned to Jiangdu with me the next day, looking very downhearted."

  Shen Bailian suddenly felt a little puzzled in her heart and thought: This story seems to be somewhat familiar, as if I had heard it somewhere before.

  That young book boy continued: "But after returning to Jiangdu, our young master was not very happy, and he didn't want to read books anymore. He spent his days in the study reciting poetry and painting. I don't understand what those poems say, but the beauty in the paintings is clearly the girl we met at the Lantern Festival. As soon as I saw it, I knew our young master had fallen ill with lovesickness. Although he maintained his dignity and didn't get too close to that girl, he couldn't control himself from thinking about her. In fact, for people like us, even if we marry a concubine, it's not a problem. If our young master really liked that girl, marrying her as a concubine would be fine. But when I advised him, he got very angry and scolded me, saying that if he truly loved someone, he should make her his wife. Later, one day, our young master suddenly invited the old man to ask if it was possible to break off the engagement and marry another person. The old man said that Lin Miss, who has a wooden destiny, is the best match, marrying her would be auspicious and would also save our old master's life. As for others, they are not destined to be together in this life or the next. When he heard this, our young master immediately changed his expression. He asked the old man what he meant, but even I, a small book boy, could understand that the old man was saying that girl couldn't be married into our family. If she were, not only would our old master's illness not be cured, but Lin Miss, who had been jilted, might also not swallow this insult! The old man didn't want to say more and just ate a table of good food prepared by the chef, wiped his mouth, and left. But after a few days, our young master invited the old man again to ask if he could change his fate. The old man said the same thing: that girl is not only not destined for him in this life but also in the next. If he insists on pursuing her, he might end up ruining her! Our young master didn't want to believe it and kept calling me to find the old man, but the old man seemed annoyed and gradually stopped responding. Later, he even refused to open the door... I'm afraid that if things continue like this, our young master won't wait for the old man's decision and will act impulsively, which would be a big mistake..."

  He went on talking non-stop, but didn't notice Shen Bailian's gradually changing expression. Only after he finished speaking did Shen Bailian open his mouth to ask: "What is the name of that girl?"

  The horse carriage creaked to a stop, and the book boy lifted up the curtain and jumped out, saying: "I often hear Young Master mention... it seems to be called Zi Xuan..."